A student fatally stabbed a girl and wounded three others at a private school in western France, on Thursday, sparking calls for tighter security measures in schools. The assailant, who admired Adolf Hitler, was subdued by teachers after attacking fellow students in several classrooms.
A student killed a girl and wounded three other pupils in a stabbing spree on Thursday at a private school in France that prompted demands for tighter security in schools after a series of attacks.
The youth – whose identity has not been revealed but who had expressed an admiration for Adolf Hitler – was overcome by teachers after staging attacks in several classrooms, witnesses said.
He is now in custody having further shocked a country that has seen a series of school knife attacks. The suspect sent a rambling email to other students just before the attacks.
In the latest case, the assailant attacked fellow students with a knife at the Notre-Dame de Toutes-Aides grammar school in the western city of Nantes.
One of the three wounded, a girl, was said to be in critical condition.
A significant police presence and emergency services were sent to the school, with army officers also present. It has since been evacuated.
French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed the casualties on X later on Thursday, and praised teachers at the scene.
He wrote: “By their intervention, the teachers undoubtedly prevented further tragedies. Their courage commands respect.”
Une adolescente a perdu la vie, trois autres lycéens sont blessés, après une attaque au couteau dans un lycée de Nantes.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 24, 2025
J’adresse mes pensées émues aux familles, aux lycéens et à toute la communauté éducative dont la Nation partage le choc et la peine.
Par leur intervention,…
After the attack, Prime Minister François Bayrou urged “an intensification” of checks for knives in schools.
National and local politicians visited the school after the attack, where Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau told reporters: “This tragedy is not a news item, it is a social phenomenon.”
He added that the “psychological profile” of the suspect was not known.
Nantes public prosecutor Antoine Leroy is said to have visited the school and will hold a news conference in the coming days.
He called for a response to the “endemic violence” among some youths and demanded proposals to prevent further knife attacks. Bayrou said secure gates at all schools was a possibility.
AFP spoke with one student who gave an account of what happened.
“I was in the cafeteria with my friends and we were told that a high school pupil had stabbed students in several classrooms,” she said, without giving her name.
“We were told not to leave the cafeteria for about 20 minutes and then we were confined to a gym.”
She added the assailant “was known to be depressed, he said he loved Hitler”.
The suspect sent a long email to other pupils in which he said “globalisation has transformed our system into a machine to decompose humanity”. He advocated a “biological revolt” to facilitate a return to “the natural order of things, even if cruel” instead of “globalised ecocide”.
Site sealed off
Eye-witness accounts in local media described students running through the site, with some confined to classrooms after an alarm was sounded around lunch time.
The school administration sent a message to the families of the 2,000 students, informing them of the incident. The school educates pupils from nursery through to high school, according to its website.
Students had been immediately confined inside the school, the statement added.
“In coordination with the authorities present, we are organising the gradual release of students from 3:30 pm (16:30 Cyprus time) onwards in accordance with a strict protocol,” the message said.
Worried parents gathered outside the school, which had been cordoned off by police and some French soldiers.
Ludivine, 48, said the attack had happened in her daughter’s class.
“As an anxious mother who doesn’t let her out alone, I never thought anything would happen to her at her school,” she said.
Authorities helped students gradually leave the site from 15:30 local time (16:30 Cyprus time), as some parents waited nearby.
One father told the Reuters news agency they were “waiting to hold them [our children] in our arms” and “help deal with the stress this will have caused”.
Psychological support has been put in place for students and teachers. Rue des Épinettes, where the school is located in the east of the city, has been closed off.
French Education Minister Elisabeth Borne said in February that police would start random searches near schools for hidden knives and other weapons in a bid to deal with the rise in attacks.
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Source: BBC / AFP / France24
